Spring Branch ISD’s Muri testifies before committee in Texas Senate

Published 1:53 pm, Monday, September 19, 2016

Spring Branch ISD officials travelled to Austin last week to testify to the Texas Legislature on the works of Districts of Innovation.

Superintendent Scott Muri spoke to the Senate Committee on Education during an hours-long meeting Sept. 14, speaking highly of Spring Branch ISD’s designation as a District of Innovation. Muri said the district began a reflective journey when he was brought onboard in 2015.

“During that journey, we began to look internally at ourselves,” Muri said. “We realized that some of our children were doing really well, and we were excited about that. But the majority of the children at Spring Branch ISD were not doing really well, and that alarmed us.”

After taking into consideration the relatively new District of Innovation law, the district began the process of becoming one. Now, Muri told senators, by using the program, the district is able to make decisions easier at the local level.

“We asked for local control,” Muri said. “We recognized that as a school district, innovation and thinking differently takes more than a day, a week, a month or a year. It’s a long journey for us. We said, ‘state of Texas, through the District of Innovation process, we would like to take everything that you have to offer and bring that decision making down to the community level and then empower our local schools to think differently about how they educate their children.’

“They all should have an opportunity to think differently, to innovate differently based on the unique needs of their children.”

Senators asked Muri and other testifiers how the program could be changed, and Muri said finance might be a good place to start.

“As you create additional opportunities under Districts of Innovation,” Muri said, “simply giving us a bit more freedom with the existing dollars will help us innovate and create a bit differently.”

He also suggested allowing changes to accountability standards and incentivizing districts to become Districts of Innovation might help improve and expand the program.